3 ms·
If I decide to type the words "free will", I don't tell my fingers, "move to coordinates <x, y, z> and apply force vector F", I just type the words. I'm not rea
by cgriswald 8y ago
If I decide to type the words "free will", I don't tell my fingers, "move to coordinates <x, y, z> and apply force vector F", I just type the words. I'm not really even conscious of typing the individual letters unless I slow down and think about it. That's because, through months of training followed by decades of use, I've trained my unconscious to type without having to consciously think about anything other than what to type (and even some of that I can fob off onto my unconscious).
Does this imply it was not my choice to type "free will"? Would I be unable, through conscious effort, to learn how to type with a different keyboard layout?
I can't think of a reason to suspect that we don't also train our decision-making processes the same way. (This is especially true for such trivial, inconsequential decisions as to which pattern to select in an experiment.) And I suspect we could train ourselves to always prefer a particular kind of pattern fairly easily through conscious effort.
So even if you limit free will to consciousness, I am not sure how you can say anything specific about free will as a result of the study.